puerto rico and the virgin islands. in recent weeks, tragedy has once again hit puerto rico as more than 1,000 earthquakes, 1,000 earthquakes have rocked the island since december 28. schools have crumbled, hospitals are in disarray, and houses have been destroyed. thousands of people are staying in shelters or sleeping outside out of fear that their homes could collapse as they sleep. tragically two americans have lost their lives, including a 13-year-old girl where too many are still waiting for the federal assistance needed to modernize hospitals and improve access to care. madam chair, as members of congress our most important responsibility is keep the american people safe. two weeks after devastating earthquakes struck puerto rico, our fellow americans on the island still face serious challenges to their safety, health, and well-being. emfamily sleeping outside, every child who no longer has a school to go to because of seismic dangers, every person who dies because they can't access a hospital, each is a challenge

virgin islands also threw their support to bloomberg.bloomberg defending his controversial stop and frisk policy in very stark terms. >> bloomberg was asked about those comments yesterday in tennessee. >> why did you say what you said in that 2015 speech? >> i don't think those words reflect what -- how i led the most diverse city in the nation, and i apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused. >> but why did you say it? >> it was five years ago, and, you know, it's just not the way that i think. >> the democratic front-runner bernie sanders is looking to expand his base ahead of super tuesday. he's making campaign stops in north carolina, texas and colorado. pete buttigieg and amy klobuchar looking to build on the momentum they picked up in new hampshire by adding staff and advertising in nevada. >>> the head of the iowa democratic party resigning more than a week after the first in the nation iowa caucuses descended into chaos. state party chairman troy price apologizing in a statement saying, quote, the fact is democrats

robert anthony molloy of the virgin islands to be judge for the district court of the virgin islands. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, madam president. madam president, i rise today to celebrate black history month and to pay tribute to pennsylvanians whose work has made a real difference in our commonwealth. this year we will honor three individuals who have dedicated themselves to uplifting the lives of others. we know that dr. martin luther king jr. once said that, quote, life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others. for purposes of today's remarks, i'll substitute one word. i'll substitute the word children for the word others and ask what are you doing for our children? it is an important question not only for those of us who gather for black history month today and to celebrate this month, it's also an important question for every member of congress to ask themselves that question. but this year we're going to honor these three pennsylvaniany elliott. rosemary brown, and ellen jo waller. all three have ded

virgin islands threw their support to bloomberg yesterday.scrutiny over some audio defending his controversial stop and frisk policy in some very frank terms. >> so bloomberg was asked about those remarks yesterday in tennessee. >> why tid you say what you said in that 2015 speech? >> i don't think those words reflect how i led the most diverse city in the nation, and i apologized for the practice and the pain that it caused. >> but why did you say it? >> it was five years ago, and, you know, it's just not the way that i think. >> the democratic front-runner bernie sanders looking to expand his base ahead of super tuesday. he's making campaign stops in north carolina, texas and colorado. pete buttigieg and amy klobuchar looking to build on momentum they picked up in new hampshire by adding staff and advertising in nevada. >>> all right, nearly 200 students in lebron james' promise school i promise school network were told they were going on a tour of kent state university, but there was quite a surprise waiting for them after they arrived. co

this follows similar action filed in the british virgin islands. carlos ghosn denies wrongdoing.thispokesperson accused was one week before the earnings report. the former auto tycoon is contesting what he calls an , andal dismissal by nissan is seeking 15 million euros in compensation in a dutch court. lebanon will ask the international monetary fund for technical help to address its economic crisis, according to government forces seeking to the reuters news agency. lebanon is facing a looming debt deadline, with a eurobond falling due on the month of march. the banking association says that i am ofof help n needed to rerestructurure the countryry's. two b big compapanies have drdrd out ofof the mobile event in ths month. they say they will not attend because of the coronavirus outbreak. theipmaker has also j joined exit. u.s. and chinese companies have already pulled out from the bibg event.t. the organizers are meeting t to rereview theheir options this friday. the e u.s. competitionegulator is demanding that the world's biggest tech companies hand over informatation about all

let me give a quick follow-up to the gentlewoman from the virgin islands.is the trump administration trying to neutralize the taliban, to make them a non belligerent group? >> i believe that is part of our use of more munitions. that is the stated goal of driving them to the negotiating table. >> right, thank you. according to the october 2019 quarterly report, the u.s. appropriated approximately 4.7 four billion efforts in afghanistan in 2019. is that correct? >> i don't have the exact number but that sounds about right. >> so, it is my understanding that this money goes towards a variety of things, such as security efforts, government assistance, humanitarian aid, civilian operations and you indicated that most of the money go into the government is coming from the u.s., so, is that right? >> that's correct. >>, so how important is it that this money is being spent for its intended purpose, such as to support migration and refugee assistance, international narcotics control and the afghan security forces fund? >> it's very important, ma'am, and that is th

let me give a quick follow-up to t the, gentle woman from the jirjjir virgin islands. isn't the taliban trying to, isn't the administration trying to, the taliban to make them a more -- >> that is a stated goal to driving them to the negotiating table. >> great. thank you. according to siga reflex's october, 2019 quarterly report, the u.s. appropriated approximately 4.74 billion to efforts in afghanistan in 2019. is that correct? >> i don't have the exact number, but that sounds about right. >> okay. so it is my understanding this money goes towards a variety of things such as security efforts, government assistance, humanitarian aid, civilian operations, and you indicated that most of the money going to the government is coming from the u.s., so is that right? >> that's correct. >> so how important is it that this money is being spent for its intended purpose, such as to support migration and refugee assistance, international narcotics control, and the afghan security forces fund. >> it is very important, ma'am, and that's what the concern, i think everybody has, abou

this ibefore we start wrapping p before the other 47 states, the virgin islands, puerto rico, guam, maybe we need to recognize we could be in for a longer contest and it could start next, this saturday in south carolina, it could go on on march 3rd. it's amazing to me how many people are saying will be have already settled the contest won three states who represents such a small slice of the total number of voters. >> martha: i am with you, i think there will be a lot of twists and turns in this thing before it is all over. karl, thank you. good to see you tonight. also joining me tonight as chuck rocha, sanders campaign senior advisor. good to have you with us, thank you for being here tonig tonight. this is representative of freiburg weighing in on bernie sanders and what he sees as some hurdles for him in south carolina. watch. >> i do believe it will be an extra burden for us to have to carry, this is south carolina and south carolina are pretty leery about that title of socialist. how does your candidate get past that? >> 80% of our staff are people of color, majority african-america

million dollar check but an and to denmark as an empire, so you could buy out and empire, so the virgin islandsthat some of you may have enjoyed thus far or will in your point and lives used to be part of denmark and the u.s. purchase it and by saying and aren't makes a case for that expansion not a pure imperialist act they say the names another neutral country will be very good at keeping the germans at bay in europe. if they fold we are going to have a german state just off the coast of florida, that is not okay, where they can park their warships and from that base launched towards the panama can now in the bottom left hand corner. it's not quite on this map but it would just be below nicaragua. right, so you will recall that i mentioned a couple of weeks ago the germans had moved to warships into north america, one was parked where? near, no, not the east coast, the one ship so one ship is parked, white base were, right off the coast, of puerto rico, the republic of haiti. and the other ship, it's off the coast of california. and in each instance, there is a german warship, on either side

virgin islands, st. kitts. they are looking at where all these passengers traveled but they are not confirming an official number of people who are being screened at this point, john, but really the main key here is what these precautionary measures being taken. the cruise line making very clear they do have rigorous protocols on board to ensure the well-being of their passengers and crew. thousands of them on the ship. >> polo sandoval in new jersey. what is happening there seems to be out of an abundance of caution. a much different, much more advanced situation affecting a whole lot of americans on a quarantine cruise ship docked off the coast of japan. 61 people on board this vessel have now tested positive for coronavirus, including now 11 americans. cnn's will ripley joins us live from japan, and he spoke with one of the passengers, including an american woman who now does have the virus. will? >> yes, she is one of the people, 1 of the 61 people now confirmed to have coronavirus that came from this cruis

when the new jersey primary will award 126 delegates and the virgin island's caucus is at the end of this week of june, will award the final six delegates in the chase for the democratic nomination for president of the united states. every night now in america at kitchen tables. people are staring at presidential primary ballots and deciding the future of the country. deciding the future of the rule of law. deciding what it means to protect and defend the constitution of the united states, against all enemies foreign and domestic, who is the breast person to do that? as the presidential oath of office swears the president to do? and the democratic presidential primary? what makes this the most difficult choice for voters according to polls, is not sorting out the complexity of the candidates policy proposals, it's not that. that's not what weighs most heavily on voters as they stare at their ballots, according to what they're telling pollsters. the number one issue according to polling among democrat irk presidential primary voters, number one is beating donald trump. that's the most

the virgin islands that some of enjoyed thus far, or may, used to be part of denmark. artu.s. purchases it and makes a case for that expansion, not a pure imperialist act. say, the danes aren't going to be very good at keeping the germans at bay in europe. if they fold, we are going to have a german state just off the coast of florida. that is not ok. where they can park their warships. and from that base, lunge toward the panama canal in the bottom left-hand corner. not quite on this map but it would just be below nicaragua. right? you will recall that i mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the germans moved two warships into north america. one was parked where? no, not the east coast. >> puerto rico? prof. mathieu: when ship is more moored right off rico,ast of puerto dominican republic, haiti. there is a german warship on either side of the panama canal. the canal that the americans had spent a ton of money, a ton of time, and a ton of scientific effort to make theirs. the french had been trying but they could not pull it off. the americans arrived and said we are going to

colleagues instituted to bring that to our community, to make sure that it does not happen in the virgin islands. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to pay tribute to a friend of mine who passed away a few days ago. his name is dennis hood. dennis lived in public housing and has been a fierce advocate for implementation of the section 3 program. despite many illnesses that he had, he developed himself a small contracting business, worked it well. unfortunately passed away. so, dennis, we contribute and salute you for your efforts to advocate for those low-income residents who lived in public housing. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does does the distinguished but tardy gentleman seek recognition? >> i request unanimous conse

first, why are the demonstrated need for this funding in puerto rico and the virgin islands has omb refused to apportion the funding as immediately available for obligation? and secondly, hud has provided testimony saying that omb has purported to curtail their ability to even request this funding be made available to hud. is this true? have you done this at the president's direction with regard to puerto rico? omb has no authority in law or anywhere else to control what an agency requests. what an agency requests in the first place. do you disagree with that? dir. vought: with regard to puerto rico, $90 million is projected to be spent to help them recover from the hurricanes from a few years ago. given the situation politically in that territory, where there's rampant corruption, you had an administration that had to resign, a governor that had to resign -- >> excuse me, but we have an inspector general's report, we don't have to rely on your word for it. is it not true that actually the finding came up that the administering agency in puerto rico was not rampant corruption, that they ope

virgin islands attorney general have caused checks for the electricity and pest control to bounce and spread across the disgraced financiers u.s. properties. the situation has impeded their efforts to sell-off assets which is why epstein's coexecutors are asking the court to intervene. >>> you know those filters you can find on your social media apps they can be a lot of fun. but look what happened to one reporter during his live report in the snow. >> this is the first legitimate snowfall we've seen this season, so i know a lot of folks are excited about that. >> i love this guy. so this was not a clip from snl. this really happened to a reporter in north carolina. he was doing a story on the snow in asheville completely unaware apparently his face had the filters activate and in less than a minute he becomes a weightlifter, a space cadet, a fox and my favorite that wizard right there. the reporter stepped off camera only to realize what had happened. >> if you've worked in local news you've had bloopers. in fact probably for six straight months of my first job was a blooper, but i t

. >>> "the miami herald" reports the estate of jeffrey epstein is asking a virgin islands court to strike down criminal activity liens against the estate because they are bouncing. they are unable to pay workers to maintain epstein's properties and making it harder for them to sell off the assets. >> "los angeles times" reports kobe bryant's pilot had previously violated weather related federal flight rules. federal aviation administration records show that in may 2015 the pilot flew into busy air space near los angeles international airport despite being denied clearance due to reduced visibility. federal investigators are trying determine the cause of last month's crash. the pilot had been trying to get special permission to fly through foggy conditions. >>> a chilly repgs nfl players are having to the proposed collective bargaining agreement. the league's owners approved a new labor deal that would expand roster sizes, shorten the pre-season and limit the number of international games. but the big stumbling block for the players is a proposal to play a 17th regular season game. some le

more diverse caucus, american samoa is on march 3rd, and then north dakota, wisconsin, guam, virgin islandser tuesday. that's big. you have alabama, arkansas, california and california added itself to it, making it huge and it's a third of the delegates between them and texas. >> remember california gets a month for a final count. nobody is talking about that. >> that's a good point. >> they've already started voting. >> early. so the question is, then i'll come back to the table, how do you organize when that's the map. that's the map in one day. >> it's incredibly difficult. but i'm really glad you bring this up, because right now we're talking about this thing like all the latin x folks live in nevada and all the black folks live in south carolina. i get the order of operations but we know amy klobuchar could not have complimented doug jones last night on the debate stage if it hadn't been for on the ground organizers and black church mothers driving the vans to elect doug jones. so we have to recognize the party has a responsibility to invest in communities of color all primary season a

chair now recognizing the gentlewoman from the virgin islands. >> thank you very much mr. chairman and thank you mr. sopko for coming here to speak with us and to share your thoughts and concerns. we all, as you can hear on this committee are concerned with our afghan strategy. i think that across the board you have heard that. it's one of the few times i feel like on this committee we've all had some agreement going on. it's a welcomed feeling. but one of the things i also have noticed and have a concern about is that under president trump it seems that our policy now is geared more towards withdrawal of u.s. forces. initially it appeared that the administration stated objective in afghanistan was to achieve a peace agreement that ensures afghan soil is never used again by terrorists against the united states, its allies, or any country and allows american troops then to return home. you know, i think that that is what you were talking about about national security. so, when you talk about the -- when we talk about the trump administration's stated objective and our own n

virgin islands. able to meet with fema officials to discuss the erritory's disaster recovery progress, objective regarding housing, power, education, and roject obligations and formulations he delegation toured the school, arthur richard shool, henderson school, as well as the step home. agriculture commi with local farers, fficials, usda represntatives discssed challenges and oportunities for agriculture in the virgin islands. the u.s. visited virgin islnds' agricultural fair, which is the largest in carbbean. they saw firsthand the diversity of agriculture in the virgin resourcefulness of farmers to dal with the growing demand. the committee mmbers for coming. im looking forward to working with them. y staff and i are ommitted to continuing towork with chairman efazio as well as peterson to ensure the future of local rmers, highways, others are i yield back.eded.- the speer pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlen from north carolina seek recognition? >> i ask to address the house revise andu

endorsements of three members of the congressional black caucus from georgia, new york, and the virgin islands. made no mention of the controversial policing practices that took place under bloomberg's mayorality in their endorsement statements. also news out of iowa. the head of the democratic party there has stepped down, announcing his resignation. troy price in his resignation letter saying the fact is that democrats deserve better than what happened on caucus night. as chair of the party, i am deeply sorry for what happened and bear the responsibility for any failures on behalf of the iowa democratic party. while it is my desire to stay in this role and see this process go through completion, i do believe it is time for the iowa democratic party to begin looking forward and my presence in my current role makes that more difficult. therefore, i would resign as chair of the iowa democratic party effective upon the election of my replacement. and headline, "usa today" on the aftermath of the iowa caucuses, defied expectations, klobuchar's new hampshire surprise means a new battle for money a

that's why -- he's got people stationed in the virgin islands, people stationed in gauam.g delegate math. he's not spending that money for no reason. that's why you see the advertising, that's why you so the robust staff. that's what democrats have to say, what is that fine line between fighting it out until the end and staying in so long that you have reconciled the difference. >> 2016 now is interesting. the democrats learned from the republicans -- >> they learned nothing. >> even with amy klobuchar coming on now, if i were a democrat i would be offended that all of a sudden she's trying. what has she been doing for four months? neil: trying to break through. >> you have to go out for the person in first place, not the person in fourth place and third place. she's been doing this for months and so have the others. at the end of the day -- neil: [ inaudible ]. >> not on the democratic side. on the national polls biden has been up there. they know bernie has the momentum. they are all afraid to turn off his people. who does that sound like from 2016? >> i think the realit

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from the virgin islands seek recognition? ms. plaskett: i ask unanimous to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. plaskett: i urge every one my colleagues to use black history month to celebrate the contributions of people who came hemisphere not of their own free will. in chains and bondage and then make this country great. it's important that we not only and their hem contributions with you their example of resilience. reid, who was an enslaved the statue ped with who sits atop this building and insulated the statue of freedom. walker who became the first woman to preside over a savings institutions, which depression reat consolidated to become the consolidated bank and trust, today.till exists ralph bunch, an american diplomat, fundamental to the reation and adoption of the universal declaration of human rights. be the r went on to first african-american to win the nobel peace prize for his negotiation e

the district court of the virgin islands. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of robert anthony molloy of the virgin islands to be judge for the district court of the virgin islands signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. those opposed no the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session and consider calendar number 491. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. those opposed no the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the mo

district court of the virgin islands. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: madam president, the coronavirus has already spread to 30 countries, and 53 confirmed cases here in the united states. officials at the world health organization are now warning world governments to begin preparing for a pandemic, a pandemic. but here in the united states, the trump administration has been caught flatfooted. the administration has no plan to deal with the coronavirus, no plan, and seemingly no urgency to develop one. even now, after the virus has already become a worldwide health crisis with with rapidly growing economic problems, the trump administration is scrambling to respond. we have a crisis, and the trump administration is trying to build an airplane while already in mid flight. the harsh fact of the mat